cooper



2 Sheets-ShedI 1.A

(No Model.)

A. COOPER METAL WORKING PLANT.

Patented Apr. 3A, 1888.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR COOPER, OF MIDDLESBOROUGH, COUNTY OF YORK, ENGLAND.

seEcIFIcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,911, dated .April 3, 1883,

Application filed December 13, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR COOPER, asubject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at The Laurels Linthorpe, Middlesborough, in the county of York, England, have in-v vented certain new and 'useful Improvements` Viu Metal-Working Plants, (for which I have applied for Letters Patent in England, No. 4,508, dated September 21, 1882;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the treatment of hot steel or iron ingots immediately after casting and before they are hammeredand rolled. At present the ingots after removal from the molds are usually heated in heating-furnaces. It has, however, been proposed to allow the heat ot` the ingots to be equalized by placing them for some time in separate cellslined with tire-brick, into which they are dropped by a crane, and from which they are lifted for transfer to the rolls when lthe heat is sufficiently equalized. It has also been proposed to place the hot ingot on the ground and surround it with a casing or cover till it is .ready for rolling. Furthermore, annealingtunnels of re- 'fractory material provided-with trucks and movable divisionwalls are old for treating `scoria or other vitrit'actious matter, aud ingots have been conveyed on trucks from the castin g-pit through an overl and reheating-i'urnace to the blooming-mill.

Now my invention is in the nature of au improved arrangement and apparatus for enabling this equalization of the heat to be effected, iirst, with les's manipulation of the ingots; secondly, with fewer repairs to the equalizing-chamber being necessary; thirdly, by a more steady and regular distribution and accumulation ot heat in theequalizing-chamber; and, fourthly, with greatly-increased facilities for working, as there'is no radiation of heat from Vthe hot uncovered ingots being moved about or standing in the works; and my invention consists in the combination and arrangement ot' means hereinafter specifically set forth and claimed'.

1n the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, Figure l represents i these may be used alternately.

Patented in England September 21, 18S-2, No. 4,508.

in side elevation an ladvantageous arrangementwhen thet'unnel is made below the ground or surface-level. Fig. 2 represents a plan of same. Fig. 3 represents a sectional elevation of the tunnel at the part at which the ingots are removed. Fi g.4represents an overground tunnel for a single row of ingots. Fig.5 represents a plan of same. Fig. 6 represents a sectional elevation of Fig. 5, and Fig. 'i reprea short one, a second or return tunnel is desirable; or, it' a large make of ingots has to be dealt with, even three' or more such tunnels may be constructed side by side, and The tunnels have easily-removable and closely-fitting rebrick doors or dampers, b, dividing them into several sections, as shown. It 1s preferred that each section should be just large enough to take one cast. The doors or dampers may be opened either by raising them vertically, as ordinary furnacedoors, or they may be arranged to movehorizontally, and they may be made in either one or more parts. areseveral modes in which the ingo'ts can be moved along from the casting-pit to the mill, this transference in my system being always accomplished inside the tunnel without exposure to the air. The method I prefer is that of running the ingots through the tun-` nel to the mill on very low bogies, of. either Wrought orv cast iron, running either oil rollers or on wheels on a tramway, as shown at c, Figs. 1, 3, et, 6, and 7,the wheels or rollers being protected from the heat of the ingols and the upper part of the tunnel by the bogie-platforms, which are sheeted with hre-brick, and so arranged that they form a joint more or less air-tight with the sidesof the tunnel. VFor this purpose I prefer that the sides of the bo- Therev ,Figs. 4 and 6, c.

inches round the ingot.

gie-platforms project into channels or grooves formed in the tunnel sides, (see Fig. 3,) or the bogie top and sides may be in the form of an inverted box sheeted with fue-brick on the outside, the wheels running underneath, as in The bogies which I prefer should be of such a length that one or more willjust ll a section of the tunnel between two of the fire-brick dampers, so that the platforms will form a continuous surface, protecting the carriage body and wheels from the heat, and are moved along the tunnel by a chain or rope of iron or steel and a winch, or by an endless chain, or by a hydraulic ram working direct or otherwise, or by some other suitable contrivance. l

The ingots may be placed on the bogies either vertically, as in Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 6, or horizontally and lengthwise, as in Fig. 7; or they may be placed crosswise on the bogies, the tunnels in each case being built so as to give a clearance in cross-section of about three moving the ingots along the tunnel is to push them through from the casting-pit end by means of a hydraulic ram or similar device, without the use of bogies, the motion being transmitted from one in got to the other along' the whole tunnel. Itis in this case desirable to diminish the friction by laying rails along the bottom ofthe tunnel, the rails being nearly buried in fire-brick to prevent too great heating. They may, in addition, be made hollow and kept cool by the circulation of water, (but I do not claim this as part of my invention.) When the ingots are pushed through the tunnel from the casting-pit end, as last described,`

it is desirable that the tunnel should have an inclination downward from the casting-pit to the rolls of at least one in fifteen. I also find that .the system of casting, which, when used in conjunction with my tunnel equalizin g chambers, gives the best results, is that in which the in gots are cast on trolleys or bogies, which after removal of the mold can be run with'the hot ingots directly into the hot tunnel. When the casting is conducted in longitudinal pits below the ground,the hot tunnels may be made as continuations of the pits, of which a complete arrangement is shown in Figs. l and 2, where E represents the converters; f, the centercrane for transferring the ladle g to carriage h, from which the in gots are cast in longitudinal pits t' i. After the ingot-molds j are removed by cranes 'It k, the damper b is raised and the ,bogie of hot ingots is passed direct into the hot tunnels a a, and if the tunnel consists of two sections, as shown, or more than two sections, itis immediately passed forward to that one adjacent to the cogging-rolls, and as soon t as the heat in the ingots has become sufficiently equalized for rolling the closely-fitting Another mode of Stoppers or covers Z l are removed from the apertures which I make in the roof of that part of the tunnel, and the ingots are lifted out by crane m and transferred to coggingmill rollers fn. When the tunnels are con- `structed above the ground, as shown in Figs.

4, 5, and 6, the ends near the cogging-mill, as well as the ends near the casting-pit, are closed with easily-removable and closel y-fittin g doors or dampers b b. As soonas the ingots formv and the bogie or bogies of ingots are moved forward until the iirst ingot stands just outside the tunnel in such a position that the door may be shut down'on the top ofthe bogie between the first and second ingots, thus preserving the heat in the tunnel while the first ingot is being rolled. As soon as this is done the door is again raised, and the bogies moved forward until the lsecond ingot appears outside the tunnel, when the door is shut down between the second and third ingots while the second is being rolled. The other ingots remaining are dealt with in a similar manner. The ingots can be lifted from the bogies to the rolls or hammer by an ordinary ingot-crane, as shown in Figs. l and 2. This arrangement of doors-or dampers and mode of working the ingots from the tunnels above ground is equally efficient when applied to underground tunnels; but it will be apparent that in this latter case it will be necessary to make a longitudinal pit, as a continuation of tche tunnels at the cogging-mill end, of sufficient length to hold the bogie or bogies after the last ingot forming the cast has passed out of the end of the tunnel.

Having thus described the nature of my invention and how the same may be practically employed, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A metal-Working plant consisting of the following elements: a casting-pit, a bogie containing molds, means to strip said molds from the ingots cast therein, a tunnel of refractory material, in which the heat of said 'ingots is equalized, movable refractory division-walls in said tunnel, inlets to said tunnel sealed with refractory doors, the blooming train rolls or hammers, and means for transferring the ingotslfrom the tunnel to the rolls or hammers, all combined and arranged substantiall y as and for the purpose described.

ARTHUR COOPER.

Witnesses:

R. E. WETHERS, F. A. BLAND, v

Solicitors Clerks, Middlesborough,

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